The present invention relates generally to a system for managing electronic messages, and particularly, to a system for managing delivery of electronic messages according to the message recipient's preferences.
Electronic mail, or e-mail, provides a convenient and easy means for two or more individuals to communicate electronically. E-mail systems today help users send text-based and binary messages through extensive communication networks so that two or more users, who may be in remote locations, can communicate. E-mail may also be used for delivery of important business, financial, sports and other types of information from centralized repositories. The use of e-mail today has become so pervasive that many users now need a way to manage the influx of messages sent to their electronic mailboxes.
Today, most e-mail messages are stored in an electronic mailbox until the recipient reads them To aid the recipient in reading, the e-mail system presents a list of messages in chronological order. Users manage these messages by manually selecting and reading those messages that are of interest. Users often scan either the sender information or the subject heading to locate messages of interest. When the number of incoming messages is very large, the process of scanning and selecting messages to read may be very time consuming. Actually reading and responding to or forwarding the messages takes additional time. All message management decisions and related actions are left to the user.
Some e-mail systems today provide more sophisticated mechanisms-sometimes referred to as "filter and forward" mechanisms--for sorting, selecting, and responding to messages. With the mechanisms, users may define specific criteria--or rules--by which messages are presented and handled in order to meet their personal preferences. For example, users define a rule so that all incoming messages are routed automatically to a different mailbox or perhaps, a paging device. A rule may be defined so that an incoming message triggers the automatic sending of a related message to a specific group of users. Another rule may result in the sorting and presentation of messages according to a priority assigned by the sender. Some systems may allow users to define a list of senders from whom the recipient is willing to receive messages while all other messages are discarded automatically. Some systems may also allow users to accept only those messages relating to particular topics. In many instances, messages may be presented according to a combination of preferences or rules so that, for example, messages relating to a particular topic and from a specific sender may be forwarded automatically to a select group of users interested in the topic.
In addition to providing different rule sets for the filtering and forwarding of messages, e-mail systems may apply the rules at different times. For example, in many e-mail systems responsibility for the filtering and forwarding of messages is distributed among the servers responsible for distributing the messages to individual users. If the recipient's server is not available, then the rules are not applied. Therefore, a message that should be forwarded to interested parties will not be sent until the recipient's server is available to apply the rules and perform the necessary actions. As a result, there may be a significant time delay between the time that a message is sent and the time that other interested parties learn of the message. Even if the server is available, time delays may result because the message must go to the server responsible for servicing the recipient before the rules are applied. If the recipient has defined a rule for the message to be forwarded automatically, the message makes an unnecessary, intermediate stop at the server before being forwarded according to the intended recipient's rule. The rules are not applied until the message, effectively, is delivered to the intended message recipient or the message reaches a final destination. In this respect, when the intended recipient's rules are determined and applied to the electronic message, the process of sending a message begins again and the original intended message recipient becomes a message sender.
Rules may also be applied when messages arrive at a client that performs mail services. However, significant time delays may result if the client is not available. In addition, network traffic may increase as messages from the client must travel to a central distribution point before being forwarded to the appropriate location. The same problems that exist when a server applies rules late in the distribution process are present when a client applies the rules. The forwarding of messages to others is delayed until the message arrives at the client and the client is able to apply the rules. Once again, because rules are applied after the message reaches its initial destination, for additional messages to be sent, the message sending process begins again. Consequently, the intended recipient's rules are in reality preferences of a message sender rather than preferences of a message recipient. Messages are thus delivered in accordance with the message sender's preferences.
The present invention addresses the problems that result when filter and forward rules are applied to electronic messages late in the distribution process. In the present invention, message management rules defined by the intended recipient are applied soon after the originator sends the message so that messages may be forwarded or new messages generated and sent to other users regardless of whether the message may be delivered immediately to the intended recipient or whether it reaches a certain destination. Rules are applied upon entry of the message into the wide area network of the information service rather than after the message is delivered to the recipient as in prior art systems. Using the present invention, users specify message selection criteria based on attributes of incoming messages. Next, users specify the action to be associated with messages that meet the selection criteria. A distributor then applies the rules at the beginning of the message distribution process so that the intended recipient's specified actions are carried out even if the intended recipient is unable to receive the message. Because rules are applied prior to delivery of the message, an incoming message is processed in accordance with a message recipient's preferences. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rule definition and application services are provided by an information service that has the ability to support a large number of users and the ability to accept incoming messages from a variety of other sources. The advantages of the present invention are explained further by the accompanying drawings and detailed description.